I started to write this work of Historical Fiction using the Thees, Thous, etc, so familiar to you all from the King James Bible, for the direct speech of the characters. It soon started to sound forced and unnatural so I reverted to my more usual style.
Any similarity between people, either living or dead, or any rich families is purely coincidental.
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Looking back, he was lucky. He was descended from one of the noblest families in Dorset and he was rich. Three sons and a daughter had all survived childhood. His wife was still beautiful and at forty was just developing the sort of plump rump that he liked. They had been married for twenty years now. The fifteen year age difference had created a bit of gossip at first but nobody thought anything of it these days. Their fourth child had caused his wife some nasty complications but she came through it. They still made love, not quite as often as they used to, but no further offspring had materialised.
Looking down, he could view the village of Corfe Castle laid out below him. As well as the castle, he owned the village that was named after it.
Looking outward, he could see the Isle of Purbeck in all directions until it reached the sea. Poole Harbour to his left, Swanage in front of him. Kimmeridge Bay to his right and Wareham to the north behind him. He owned everything he could see.
Of course Purbeck wasn't an island really. It was sort of bulge out of Dorset but the Bulge of Purbeck didn't have the same romantic ring to it.
God had ordained that he should be Lord of these lands just as God had, for reasons that only God knew, ordained that King James of Scotland should be King of England. God had subsequently ordained that his son should be King Charles of both England and Scotland. Neither King James nor King Charles was an idiot so the Royal court is based in Westminster rather than Edinburgh.
He tried to stay well clear of London. There were too many dangers. Pick the wrong side on a controversial subject and you could be in trouble. The King believed that God had given him the 'divine right' to rule as he saw fit. Many in parliament saw things differently. He supposed that, if he had to choose, he would side with the King.
He was far happier here in Dorset. He was as passionate about his wife as he had ever been. It was her wicked sense of humour that had first attracted him. After they had married it was her pure naughtiness that had bound them together.
Even after twenty years she could still surprise him. From touching him under the table when he was giving a judgement in a local dispute to insisting that they have sex on the highest turret of the castle in a thunderstorm.
That night the rain lashed and lightning forced its way to earth wherever it could. Torrents splashed between her arse and his stomach. Almost deafened by the thunder, the lady was draped over an embrasure, with her face to the wind screaming, "Oh God, I am coming to you!" in an attempt to be heard above the storm.
There had been at least one infamous death at the castle. He prayed that he wouldn't be remembered as the lord who was struck by a thunderbolt while clamped to his wife's backside.
Another thing that was wonderful about her was her generosity. He would always jest that she was trying to make the village poor rich and him poor. But it wasn't just his money that she gave but also her time. Lady Mary was forever visiting the sick and needy. Bringing them little comforts which she carried in a wicker basket.
Apart from Lady Mary, his other passion was the view from the top of the castle. He loved the fact that it changed from day to day. On a clear day he could clearly observe ships at sea. Below him he saw the streets and lanes of his village and all the toing and froing of the villagers.
He loved it so much that he had treated himself to a present. A very, very, expensive present. A marine optical telescope. He wasn't usually guarded about what he spent but he had kept the cost even from his wife.
The telescope had been made in Holland. When it finally arrived a young university man had come with it. He was there to instruct Lord John in how to set it up on its stand and how to focus and use it.
He was astonished. Everything was five times larger when viewed through the telescope. The ships on the sea. The people in the village. The birds in the trees.
He spent days peering through it at anything and everything.
Lord John showed his new plaything to Lady Mary. She couldn't quite get the notion of closing one eye. When eventually she glimpsed a passing fishing boat she said, "Lovely dear." Just as if she was seeing some proud mother's new born baby for the first time."
He was even more deflated when she added, "If you want to see ships more closely, why don't you go down to Swanage Harbour.
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Tensions had been rising between the King and Parliament. He wished that the King would give just a little. That was the way England had always worked. Everyone pretended that the King was in control of the country but deep down everyone knew that if the King lost the support of the people he couldn't rule at all. By the people, Lord John meant people like him. Not the people he viewed through his telescope down in the village.
In some respects, he was like the King of Purbeck. He ruled the ordinary people but he still had a duty to keep them on his side.
King Charles didn't quite understand these things. But still, Lord John hoped he would never have to choose between the King and the people. But if he did he would probably choose the King.
In the same way if he had to choose between the old religion and the new religion he would probably choose the old. But after so many years of backwards and forwards between the two it was safer to wait until the vicar of the Church of St Edward King & Martyr told you what you believed.
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At each evening meal Lord John would say to his wife things like, "You visited Mother Toomy today. Did she like the apples, honey and cheese?"
At first she asked, "How did you know what I took?"
"Telescope!" he replied.
Initially, she found it amusing but the novelty soon wore off. He would tell her where she had been and what she had taken them. Then, she started saying, "Telescope?" as soon as he mentioned what she had been doing.
Slowly, he found that he was less interested in ships at sea or the movement of carts on the Wareham Road and far more absorbed by the daily actions of village folk. It was fun to know that you could see in great detail what people were doing when they had no idea they were being watched.
Who was sneaking from houses they had no business being in. Betrothed couples canoodling in the fields. Women lifting their skirts to relieve an itch in their private parts.
On a fresh spring morning Lord John had one eye closed and was watching with some fascination two women who were fighting by the cross in Market Square. Just when it looked as if blood would be spilled two burly men pulled them apart and the whole thing broke up.
Turning the telescope towards the fields in the hope of spotting another amorous couple he spied Lady Mary gaily strolling along the track close to the Corfe River that the milkmaids use when they walked from the outlying farms to the village.
She was wearing a large straw hat. Over her arm was her basket. From the way in which she was swinging it his lordship doubted that it had any contents left in the basket. She could be returning from any one of three farms.
Lord John stood up to relieve his eye.
Further along the track, just after a bend in the river path, he saw a figure skulking half out of sight. Adjusting the angle and focus of the telescope he was able discern a village lad of about eighteen or nineteen. It was immediately obvious that he had his breeches unfastened and his erect cock in his hand.
Lord John was sure that it was the lad's intention to wave his John Thomas at any passing milkmaid.
He wasn't too surprised at this. Lord John knew all too well the weaknesses of young men. He had himself been sent down from Oxford for having an erection in an inappropriate place: his Tutor's Wife.
Lord John smiled as he realised that her ladyship was on a collision course with boy with the stiff dick. He wondered who would get the biggest shock.
He followed the movement of the unaware Lady Mary. One supposes that he could have tried to shout a warning to her but he felt that she was probably well out of earshot. Besides, he couldn't watch and shout at the same time.
The lord felt the tension as his wife got closer. Anything could happen. The lad may just jerk himself off and go home and she would never have an inkling of her near miss. She could be horrified and attack him with her basket. If she saw his dick the young man may realise who she was and run for his life.
Whatever the outcome he hoped it gave her a thrill of some sort that he could tease her with.
As his wife rounded the bend the young man stepped forward and waved his tool towards her in the belief that as she was wearing a skirt she must be a village woman. Lady Mary broke stride momentarily but then strolled past the young man.
After four strides she placed her basket on the ground and turned to walk back towards the lad. Lord John couldn't be sure if the young man had recognised her ladyship. The straw hat covered part of her face.
Lady Mary took the stiff prick in her right hand and pulled on it four or five times. The lad threw back his head and shuddered. Lord John felt his own cock twitch.
His wife just turned away and continued on her way stooping to retrieve her basket without pausing.
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